modal-title

A Guide To Yale College

Yale.*
*A Guide to Yale College, 2016–2017
admissions.yale.edu
Bulletin of Yale University
New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8227
Periodicals Postage Paid
New Haven, Connecticut
Yale College 2016–2017
Series 112, Number 2, June 1, 2016
A Guide to Yale College
This is Yale.
We’re glad
you asked.
5
p. 68 | Connect the
Dots. From start-up
capital and internships
to top fellowships
and a worldwide
network of alumni,
Yale positions
graduates for success
in the real world.
Places.
p. 76 |
Inspired
by Icons.
Why
architecture
matters.
p. 86 | Noah
Webster Lived
Here. Bumping
into history at Yale.
p. 88 | Nine Squares.
The modern univer -
sity, the cosmopolitan
college town.
p. 90 | Elm City
Run. On a run
from Old Campus
to East Rock, one
student explains
why New Haven is
the perfect size.
p. 92 | Here, There,
Everywhere.
Fourteen Yalies, where
they’re from, and
where they’ve been.
Pursuits.
p. 98 | Bulldog!
Bulldog! Bow,
Wow, Wow!
Playing for Yale—
The Game, the mission,
the teams, the fans,
and, of course,
Handsome Dan.
p. 102 | State of the
Arts. From the digital
to the classical, Yale’s
spectacular arts options.
p. 104 | The Daily
Show. A slice of Yale’s
creative life during one
spring weekend.
p. 106 | Shared
Communities.
Yale’s Cultural
Houses, religious
communities, and
a∞nity organizations
and centers.
p. 110 | ELIterati.
Why Elis are just
so darned determined
to publish.
p. 112 | Sustainable
U. Where Blue is
Green.
p. 114 | The Science
Channel. Life outside
the lab.
p. 116 | Political
Animals. Welcome
to the YPU, one of
Yale’s most enduring
institutions.
p. 118 | Difference
Makers. Through
Dwight Hall, students
ﬁnd their own paths
to service and leader-
ship in New Haven.
Apply.
p. 122 | The Good
News about the
Cost of Yale.
Our ﬁnancial aid policy
eliminates the need
for loans and makes
Yale a≠ordable for all.
p. 123 | The
Particulars.
How to apply, what
we look for, and
visiting campus.
4
Lives.
p. 10 | Freshman
Diaries. Yale’s newest
students chronicle a
week in the ﬁrst year
and give some advice.
p. 14 | Anatomy of a
Residential College.
Delving into the
layers of Yale’s unique
residential college
system (12 gorgeous
stand-alone “colleges”).
p. 24 | Bright
College Years.
In many ways, friend-
ship deﬁnes the
Yale experience. One
student sums it up:
“It’s about the people,
not the prestige.”
p. 28 | Breaking
News. A few of
the year’s top under-
graduate stories.
Studies.
p. 34 | A Liberal
Education. Yale’s
educational philosophy,
more than 80 majors,
the meaning of breadth,
and some startling
numbers.
p. 38 | College
Meets University.
An undergraduate road
map to the intersection
of Yale College and
the University’s gradu-
ate and professional
schools.
p. 40 | Blue Booking.
When parties and
shopping are academic.
Plus: shopping lists
and special programs.
p. 44 | Two, Three,
Four, Five Heads
Are Better Than
One. Synergy
and study groups.
p. 46 | Eavesdrop-
ping on Professors.
Why being an amazing
place to teach makes
Yale an amazing place
to learn.
p. 54 | A Hands-On
Education. Learning
by doing.
p. 56 | Next-Gen
Knowledge. For
Yalies, one-of-a-kind
resources make
all the di≠erence.
p. 62 | Think Yale.
Think World. Eight
Elis deﬁne “global
citizen” and share piv-
otal moments abroad.
Lives.
9
8 | lives
Yale is at once a
tradition, a company
of scholars, a
society of friends.
Yale: A Short History, by George W. Pierson
(Professor, Yale Department of History, 1936–73)
10 | lives
11
A Tuesday
in the life of
9:30 am
Wake up, shower, and (ideally)
get breakfast at Saybrook.
10:30
Spanish in Linsly-Chittenden
(conveniently located between
Vanderbilt and Saybrook).
11:20
Rush to Hillhouse to make it
to my 11:35 calculus class.
1:00 pm
Grab lunch at Silliman with
a friend or two from math.
3:00
Work out at Payne Whitney
Gym, shower, and leave by 4.
6:00
Meet up at Chipotle or another
local eatery with fellow Black
Men’s Union members to work
on a newsletter for alumni.
7:30
Weekly meeting with Cluster
Technicians at the Student
Technology Collaborative.
9:00 Watch TV for an hour.
10:00
Do homework with a friend at
Squiche (Saybrook’s buttery).
12:30 am
Back to my room to get
some sleep.
Freshman Diaries.
(Life in the ﬁrst year)
From the moment they
arrive, freshmen are
able to dive into all that
Yale has to offer. In part
this is because so many
programs are in place
specifically to welcome
and guide first-year
students—from pre-
orientation to freshman
counselors (Yale seniors)
to Freshman Seminars
(small classes taught
by some of Yale’s most
prominent professors)
to parties. We caught
up with three freshmen
near the end of their
second semesters.
Here they share advice
on preorientation,
independence, and
schedules; reflect on
their own freshman
expectations; and record
a day in their lives
during the first year.
First Year’s Classes
> Comprehensive General
Chemistry II
> General Chemistry Lab II
> Reading and Writing the
Modern Essay
> Introduction to Ethnicity, Race,
and Migration
> Calculus of Functions of One
Variable I and II
> Introductory Microeconomics
> Introduction to Engineering,
Innovation, and Design
> Vikings
> Elementary Spanish II
Activities
> Yale Black Men’s Union
> Yale PALS Tutoring and
Mentoring
> Yale Undergraduate Diversiﬁed
Investments
> Science, Technology, and
Research Scholars
> Saybrook College Council
Chair of the Dining Hall Committee
> Shaka at Yale Polynesian dance
group
On preorientation: I did
Cultural Connections and loved
it! I had a fantastic time going
on adventures, participating
in stimulating discussions and
conversations, and being ushered
into some of the ﬁner aspects of
student campus life with things
like a talent show and poetry
performances. I really beneﬁted
from the program in that I felt a
sense of belonging and already
had a network of friends before
Camp Yale even started. I’ve
heard similar experiences from
friends who participated in FOOT.
I highly encourage incoming
students to consider one of Yale’s
preorientation programs.
On roommates: Whether by
pure coincidence or by Yale’s
complex room assignment system,
I was matched with someone I
had met and hit it o≠ with during
the college search process. After
we got our suite assignments,
we texted each other in happy
surprise that we would be
rooming together.
On Freshman Seminars:
These are very popular classes
with limited sizes. I deﬁnitely
recommend applying to them.
On expectations: I was never
completely sure what I would want
to study in college, so I knew that
I wanted to go to a place where I
could engage in several di≠erent
pursuits. The ability to easily
switch majors or disciplines was
one of the main factors that drew
me to apply to private schools like
Yale in addition to my state’s flag-
ship school. When I visited Yale
during Bulldog Days—a three-day
program for admitted students—
I was blown away by the fluidity
and flexibility across several
spheres in the school. It became
clear to me that integrating into
residential college communities,
extracurricular activities, and
the larger Yale community would
be seamless. And now that I’m
here, one of my most pleasant
surprises is that there are a ton
of great resources such as o∞ce
hours, tutoring, review sessions,
intelligent fellow classmates,
etc., all around just waiting to
be utilized.
Mallet Njonkem
Hometown
Richmond, TX
Anticipated Major
Economics, Engineering Sciences: Mechanical
“While it may not be particularly
easy to excel at Yale, ﬁnding
out that there are many resources
to help achieve goals was my
greatest surprise.”
Freshman
Counselors The
Freshman Counselor
(a.k.a. Froco) Program
was established in
1938 and has been
an intrinsic and
essential component
of Yale’s advising
system for freshmen
ever since. Each
first-year student is
assigned a counselor
who acts as a guide
through the transition
to life at Yale. Frocos
are a diverse group
of seniors who
are friends/mentors/
problem-solvers—
but not supervisors
or disciplinarians.
All freshmen except
those in Timothy
Dwight and Silliman
live together on
Old Campus during
their first year, and
Frocos live among
them. (Freshmen
are grouped in Old
Campus residences
by college affiliation,
which allows all
freshmen no matter
their college affilia-
tion to get to know
each other.)
Preorientation
Programs
Several optional
preorientation programs
give new students a
chance to meet each
other prior to the formal
Freshman Orientation.
Cultural Connections
(CC) introduces fresh-
men to Yale’s cultural
resources and explores
the diversity of student
experiences on campus,
with emphasis on the
experiences of students
of color and on issues
related to racial identity.
Freshman Outdoor
Orientation Trips
(FOOT) are six-day and
four-day back packing
trips for all levels in
the mountains and
hills of Vermont, New
Hampshire, New
York, Massachusetts,
and Connecticut, led
by upperclassmen.
Trip leaders have
extensive training in
keeping FOOTies safe
and healthy in the
back country and are
experienced counselors
who offer a wealth of
support, advice, and
friendship.
Harvest begins at the
Yale Farm, and then
groups of freshmen
led by upperclassmen
head off to spend
five days on family-
owned organic farms
in the Northeast.
Orientation for
International Students
(OIS) is a four-day
program designed to
ease the transition of
international students
to the United States,
and to acquaint them
with academic and
social life at Yale. It is
organized and led by
international upper-
classmen with support
from the Office of
International Students
and Scholars.
12 | lives
13
On orientation: FOOT is
a great way to kick o≠ your
freshman year! I did the four-day
Appalachian Trail trip and made
an instant group of friends.
On Directed Studies (DS): The
yearlong DS humanities program
is unique to Yale and a wonderful
way to make sure you are taking
small seminars, having lectures
with world-class professors,
quickly improving your writing
skills, and reading the classics,
from ancient Greece through the
twentieth century. Discussion
sections are at the heart of the
program: they let you engage
with the texts, the other students,
and the professors in a small
group setting.
On extracurriculars: There
is such strong support for the
arts on campus. I’ve been able to
keep up and improve my dancing
and have had the chance to
choreograph pieces of my own.
Most importantly, I’ve found a
community of amazingly talented
dancers and friends who have
deﬁned my time at Yale so far.
Eliza Dach
Hometown
Washington, DC
Anticipated Major
Chemistry (although I also want to
explore Chemical Engineering)
“Directed Studies provides a valuable
foundation in the humanities and
reminds me that science and the
humanities used to be intricately
linked. Only recently did people start
to consider them such separate ﬁelds.”
A Wednesday
in the life of
8:25 am
Wake up and get ready for
classes.
8:45
Walk with my roommate to
Branford for hot breakfast.
Our favorite day is chocolate
chip pancake day.
9:25
Organic Chemistry class. With
the help of giant styrofoam
models, we’ve been learning
about synthetic mechanisms
and about how the smallest
change in a molecule’s orienta-
tion can change its smell,
look, reactivity, toxicity...
10:15
Head to the Blue State co≠ee
shop for an hour. Usually I
work on my chemistry problem
set or review DS reading for
the afternoon section meeting.
11:35
DS Philosophy lecture. I love
DS lectures. Each professor
has a di≠erent area of expertise
and eloquently synthesizes that
week’s reading with the course
as a whole (especially useful if
we’re reading Kant or Hegel).
12:25 pm
Lunch in TD with a big group
of DSers. These lunches are
a hidden gem of DS: because
you spend so much time with a
relatively small group, you end
up making a lot of friends over
the course of the year’s lectures,
sections, and lunches.
1:00
O≠ to the discussion section
for DS Historical and Political
Thought.
2:15
Back to Old Campus to relax.
If it’s sunny, I sit out on the
benches and chat with friends
who are passing by or playing
frisbee. Eventually I head to
my room or the JE library to
ﬁnish up the week’s DS paper
or work on a lab report.
6:00
Dinner with my amazing
suitemates in JE. Afterward, we
stop in the Froco’s suite for an
impromptu dance party (or just
to grab a piece of candy).
8:15
Jazz night at Yaledancers class.
Fun and tiring, YD classes are a
highlight of my week.
10:00
Back to my dorm to shower,
talk with friends, and ﬁnish up
whatever work I have left.
1:00 am
Bedtime. I pack up my books
and notes for Thursday so
that I don’t wake up my room-
mate when I leave for my 9 am
Literature class.
First Year’s Classes
> Directed Studies: Literature
(both semesters)
> Directed Studies: Historical
and Political Thought (both
semesters)
> Directed Studies: Philosophy
(both semesters)
> Quantitative Foundations of
General Chemistry
> Laboratory for Quantitative
Foundations of General
Chemistry
> Organic Chemistry
> Laboratory for Organic
Chemistry I
> Advanced Dance Composition
Activities
> Yaledancers
> Yale team for the Solar
Decathlon
On adjusting: A di≠erent
culture, di≠erent weather, and
a di≠erent language, but the
transition was not hard because
of the help I got from the O∞ce
of International Students and
other students. I also did
an amazing preorientation for
International Students.
On Old Campus and Frocos:
Living on Old Campus with almost
all other freshmen gives you a great
way to know people from all the
colleges. Frocos are freshman
counselors. They become friends
who give great advice. The cool
thing is that although you have
your own Froco, you end up being
helped by them all.
Oscar Pocasangre
Hometown
San Salvador, El Salvador
Anticipated Major
Economics, Political Science
6:45 am. Wake up, shower, and walk
to Payne Whitney for archery practice.
A Thursday
in the life of
9:00 am
Comparative Latin American
Politics: Get ready to take a lot
of notes!
10:15
Breakfast. At Berkeley College,
I usually get a bagel, mu∞ns,
wa±e, or fruit and yogurt, and
orange juice.
10:30
I go back to my room and
work on homework or an
assigned reading. That is,
when I don’t end up talking
with people on the floor.
11:35
French class: a small class
where we practice French
through class discussions of
di≠erent novels, short stories,
and ﬁlms.
12:25 pm
Run to lunch at one of the
residential colleges, usually
Berkeley. The cool thing about
eating at the dining halls is
that you always meet up with
a friend or someone you know.
1:00
Statistics for Political Science:
Standard deviation? Multi-
linear regression? Multicol-
linearity among regressors?
Yes, yes, and yes. We learn
about statistical tools that you
can apply to political studies,
such as in election polls.
2:30
Have a co≠ee with a friend, go
to o∞ce hours, and/or work
grading Spanish homework
assignments.
6:00
The Yale Globalist, meeting
over dinner. We usually
discuss possible themes for the
next issue, evaluate the previ-
ous issue, or talk with journal-
ists about how to improve the
magazine.
7:30
Time to go to the library to do
problem sets or readings.
10:00
Hang out with friends, have
random conversations, go to
a party, a play, or go to get a
late-night snack.
1:30 am
(Sometimes it’s 3 or 4 am) Go
to bed and get some sleep!
First Year’s Classes
> Microeconomics with
Environmental Applications
> Comparative Latin American
Politics
> Intermediate and Advanced
French
> Introductory Statistics for
Political Science
> Reading and Writing the
Modern Essay
> Political Psychology
> The Modern Unconscious
> Introductory Macroeconomics
> Calculus of Functions of
One Variable
Activities
> The Yale Globalist
International a≠airs magazine
> International Student
Organization
> AIESEC We help ﬁnd internships
all over the world for Yalies.
> Yale Club Archery
14 | lives
15
Anatomy of a Residential College.
(Yale has no dormitories)
Even before freshmen
arrive they are assigned
to one of Yale’s twelve
residential colleges. More
than mere dormitories,
the colleges are richly
endowed with libraries,
dining halls, movie
theaters, darkrooms,
climbing walls, ceramics
studios, “butteries” a.k.a.
snack bars, and many
other kinds of facilities.
Rather than grouping
students according to
interests, majors, or sports,
each college is home to
its own microcosm of the
student body as a whole.
So if a certain percentage
of Yale’s students hail from
the west coast or abroad,
you can expect to see
roughly that percentage
in each college.
Yalies identify with their
college throughout their
lives, meeting one another
in far-off places not
only as an Eli but as a
Saybrugian, Sillimander,
or Morsel as well. A
truly little-known fact
is that while students
always have the option
of switching colleges
throughout their years
at Yale, scant few do.
Read the over-the-top
boostering by members
of each college in the
freshman welcome issue
of the Yale Daily News
and you’ll understand
why—they all think
they’re the best!
Yale’s college
system is
the early-
20th-century
brainchild of
philanthropist
and alumnus
Edward S.
Harkness (B.A. 1897). Archi-
tecture critic Paul Goldberger
tells us in Yale in New Haven:
Architecture and Urbanism (Yale
University, 2004) that Harkness,
like many alumni of his genera-
tion, took pleasure in Yale’s
growing international reputation
and stature but worried that
as the University grew, the
close bonds between students
that had meant so much to
him would diminish. In 1927
Harkness and his friend, fellow
Eli and architect James Gamble
Rogers (B.A. 1889), made a
“secret mission” to England to
study Oxford and Cambridge
universities’ collegiate system.
“The men came back convinced,”
writes Goldberger, that dividing
the undergraduate body into
a series of residential colleges
“was the best route to preserving
the network of Yale-inspired
connections” that had been so
important to them throughout
their lives. In the fall of 1933
the ﬁrst seven of the twelve
colleges opened.
The Courtyard The image of
the secret garden was architect
James Gamble Rogers’s inspiration
for the courtyards around which
each residential college is designed.
According to legendary art historian
and Yale professor emeritus
Vincent Scully, Rogers transformed
Yale into a loose association of
“little paradises.”
16 | lives
17
BASEMENT
Shared
Spaces
Morse and neighbor
Ezra Stiles College
share several under-
ground performance
and activity spaces.
But don’t let their
location in the
basement fool you:
skylights flood these
rooms with light.
With adjustable
tiered seating, a
full-featured sound
system, a sprung
floor, and theatrical
lighting, the Cres-
cent Underground
Theater showcases
student-directed
and student-
performed shows.
The Music Suite
has three individual
practice rooms and
one group rehearsal
room, each with
an upright or baby
grand.
The Dance and
Aerobics Studio
was designed for
all types of dance,
from ballroom
to classical Indian
bharatanatyam.
The Fabric Arts
Studio has six
looms, several
sewing machines, a
knitting machine,
and more.
FLOOR 1
Art Gallery
Artistic Morsels
can exhibit their
latest work in this
sophisticated venue.
BASEMENT
Game Room
Conveniently
located next to the
Morsel, the Game
Room is a social
hub where students
get together to
watch TV or play
pool, table tennis,
air hockey, and
foosball.
Courtyard
An outdoor room
for barbecues, leaf
and snowball ﬁghts,
and spontaneous
and formal events.
Or cool your toes
in Morse’s water
feature, known as
“the Beach.”
FLOOR S 1 & 2
Library
Open 24 hours a day,
the library has big
tables, comfort-
able couches, and
individual kiosks
for studying, as well
as a large collec-
tion of books and
magazines, from The
Economist to People.
FLOOR 2
Head of
College’s Office
The head of college is the
chief administrative o∞cer
and the presiding faculty
presence in each residential
college. During the year,
the head of college hosts
lectures, study breaks
(especially during ﬁnals),
and College Teas—intimate
gatherings during which
students have the oppor-
tunity to engage with
renowned guests from
the academy, government,
and popular culture.
BASEMENT
Buttery
Run by
students, “The
Morsel” is open
Sunday through
Thursday from
10:30 pm to 1 am.
Hang out with
friends over the
popular Jim Stanley,
a quesadilla with
chicken nuggets.
FLOOR 1
Dining Hall
One of the social
centers in every col-
lege. At night, light
glowing from the
Dining Hall’s 40-
foot floor-to-ceiling
windows illuminates
the courtyard and
outdoor dining patio.
FLOOR 1
Common Room
With comfortable
seating and ample desk
space, the Common
Room is a welcoming
place, whether you want
to work on a problem
set, play the concert
grand, or just hang out
by the ﬁreplace on a
chilly night.
Home Suite Home
Most freshmen live in
suites in which four
students occupy two
bedrooms and share
a common living
room. The suites are
all female or all male,
and the residence
halls are coed. After
freshman year, there
are multiple possible
room arrangements.
From top: A common
room in Branford
College; a bedroom
in Farnam Hall on
Old Campus; a
bedroom in Berkeley
College; a bed room
with built-in desk and
bookshelves in Ezra
Stiles College; and
a common room
in Pierson College.
FLOOR 2
Dean’s Office
If a student is having
di∞culty with a particular
course, the college dean can
often help by talking with
the student’s instructor
or with the relevant
department’s director of
undergraduate studies, or
by referring the student
to one of the programs that
o≠er tutoring assistance.
Getting to know each
student as an individual
helps the dean to address
concerns as personally
and e≠ectively as possible.
FLOOR 1
Dean’s
Apartment
Dean Joel Silverman
lives in Morse with his
wife, Alba Estenoz,
who is a professional
pastry chef; their son,
Noah; and their dogs,
Oreo and Lulu.
Yale in
Miniature.
(A tour of
Morse College)
FLOOR 1
Morse House
Catherine Panter-Brick is
joined in Morse College
by her husband, Associate
Head of College Mark
Eggerman, and their sons,
Dominic and Jannik.
BASEMENT
Student
Kitchen
All the tools you
need, whether
you’re preparing
a full-course
dinner for friends
or just heating
some ramen.
The Exercise and
Weight Room
o≠ers a full range
of state-of-the-art
equipment including
treadmills, ellipticals,
free weights, punch-
ing bags, and weight
machines.
There are also a fully
equipped Digital
Media Room and a
Recording Studio.
18 | lives
19
A Dean of One’s Own.
Residential college deans serve as
chief academic and personal advis-
ers to students in their colleges.
Morse College Dean Joel Silverman
says the college system means he
sees students not just in class but
at dinner, at social events, and in
common areas and the courtyard.
He attends their concerts, competi-
tions, and shows. “We strive to
create actual communities, where
people truly support one another
and embrace di≠erences,” he says.
“It’s extremely important to me
to help support a community in
which my family and I also feel
comfortable living.”
“I advise students on anything and
everything related to academics,
including selecting courses,
choosing a major, and exploring
the many amazing opportunities
here at Yale, such as study abroad
programs and fellowships,” says
Dean Silverman. “But I’m also
a personal adviser to students.
When students are feeling home-
sick, when there are conflicts
with roommates, when a student
who has earned A’s her entire life
suddenly bombs a test—I counsel
these students, too.”
Dean Silverman says that deans are
part of a constellation of advising at
Yale that includes heads of college,
freshman counselors, tutors, and
others. “A few years ago, I was on
my way to a panel for the parents of
new freshmen, and I ran into one
of the seniors in Morse. I asked her
what one point she would want me
to convey to the parents of fresh-
men. She paused, thought about it,
and then said, ‘Tell them that Yale
is a safe and healthy place for kids
to transition into adulthood.’”
Joel Silverman has served as
the dean of Morse since 2007.
His research and teaching focus
on the intersection of power
and persuasion in American law
and literature. He is particularly
interested in the way in which
lawyers, doctors, and other
specialists translate technical
language for a general audience.
Among the seminars he has
taught are Censorship and U.S.
Culture, American Biography,
Early Cold War Culture, and
Writing Power. As a lecturer
in English, he helps students
develop the analytical tools they
need to write well-reasoned,
well-supported, and persuasive
academic arguments. He is
currently writing a book on the
lawyer who defended Ulysses
in 1933.
Catherine Panter-Brick,
a professor of Anthropology,
Health, and Global A≠airs, has
been the Morse head of college
since July 2015. She teaches
courses on health equity and
humanitarian interventions and
publishes extensively on mental
health, violence, and resilience
in adversity, having directed
more than forty interdisciplinary
projects situated in Africa, Asia,
and the Middle East. She has
coedited seven books, most
recently Pathways to Peace (2014)
and Medical Humanitarianism:
Ethnographies of Practice (2015),
and received the Lucy Mair
Marsh Medal for Applied
Anthropology, an award that
honors excellence in the active
recognition of human dignity.
A Head Start.
What really makes a residential
college a college versus simply
a place to live is that each has its
own dean and head of college—
adults living among students
in microcosms of Yale College as
a whole. The head of college is
the leader of his or her college,
responsible for the physical well-
being and safety of students who
live there, as well as for fostering
and shaping the college’s academic,
intellectual, social, athletic, and
artistic life. Head of Morse College
Catherine Panter-Brick is a
professor of Anthropology, Health,
and Global A≠airs and, like all
heads of college, preeminent in
her ﬁeld. “I love my college: it’s
a family,” she says. “I’m with
students in the dining hall, on the
sports ﬁeld, in the dance studio,
and for events in my own house.
This has deﬁnitely given me a
multidimensional appreciation
of student life. It’s changed the
way I teach because I now share
with students more than the
classroom experience, so I make
my relationships with students
as personal as possible.”
“In a residential college, students
grow as a community, and my role
is to care for this community: to
create a welcoming space, to show
love for college life, to pay attention.
When life is stressful, students
ﬁnd support and comfort in a
close-knit community, and when
life is wonderful, fellow Morsels
are happy to share their excitement.
By providing a consistent space
where we are present in each
other’s daily lives, the residential
college serves as an anchor point
for how students navigate four
years of university life.”
20 | lives
21
Debate This.
(Pierson Dining Hall conversations in progress)
Amira Valliani, Jeff Sun, and Chris
Palencia are talking about new opportu-
nities for U.S. travel to Cuba. Amira
mentions a Yale professor doing research
in Cuba over the summer and looking for
students to help. Je≠ adds that the Chap-
lain’s O∞ce led a community service trip to
Cuba. That’s when they start talking about
the Chaplain’s O∞ce, which they say is an
amazing and unbelievably under-utilized
study space. Turns out it also has food,
they say with more than a little excitement.
���They have an ice cream freezer and a
rowboat ﬁlled to the brim with Swedish
Fish and Sour Patch Kids!” says Amira.
Alan Montes and Alex Kain are
talking about their recent trips to
Kenya and Venezuela for election
monitoring and a journalism
fellowship, respectively. As they
look toward next summer,
they are weighing the beneﬁts
and trade-o≠s between summer
internships vs. summer classes
vs. staying at home.
They may run out of your favorite
veggie-Caesar wrap, but no matter
what time you arrive or whom you
sit with, no dining hall will have a
shortage of interesting conversa-
tion. “Dinner for me was something
extraordinarily important,” says a
recent alum. “I’d sit down across
from someone and ask them what
they did that day and the answer
would be remarkable. So much
of my Yale education came from
talking to people over dinner.” Says
another alum, “I only thought I was
open-minded before Yale. Debating
an issue could turn my views upside
down in a single conversation.
That was the fun of it.”
Students Eric Bank and Vikram
Jairam, with Rosalie J.
Blunden, formerly associate
dean for ﬁnance and administra-
tion at Yale School of Public
Health, are debating the charisma
quotient of Barack Obama vs.
John F. Kennedy.
22 | lives
23
College
Shield
Architecture
Style Points
How We Boola Boola
Also Known As
Berkeley
Collegiate Gothic,
with a touch of
Tudor; built in 1934
Delicious reputation: as test
kitchen for Yale’s Sustain-
able Food Project, Berkeley
pioneered a sustainable
menu for all the colleges
Annual snowball ﬁght,
North Court vs. South
Court
Berkeleyites
Branford
Collegiate
Gothic; opened
1933; home
to Harkness
Tower and
its bells
Robert Frost described
our courtyard as “the most
beautiful college courtyard
in America”
Independence Day, when
Branford declares its
independence from Yale
in a day of barbecues
and parties
Branfordians
Calhoun
Collegiate Gothic;
opened in 1933
The Cabaret in the base-
ment, with hugely popular
student shows
Trolley Night: Clang,
clang, clang goes the party;
’Hounfest
’Hounies
Davenport
a.k.a. D’Port
One of its facades
is Collegiate
Gothic, the other is
Georgian; opened
in 1933
The Gnome, who watches
over us, when he’s not
being abducted; our
own orchestra, the
DPops; late nights at
the Dive grill
Davensports!
D-porters
Timothy
Dwight
a.k.a. TD
Georgian; opened
in 1935
Bluegrass music, art studio,
beat poetry: the laid-back
alternative
TD’s motto and cheer is
“Àshe!” which means “We
make it happen” in Yorùbá
TD-ers
Jonathan
Edwards
a.k.a. JE
Collegiate Gothic;
opened in 1933
Our amazing letterpress;
Tyng Cup winners
three years in a row
Great Awakening Fall
Festival; the formal
Spider Ball; JE SUX!
Spiders
Morse
Modern; designed
by Eero Saarinen;
built in 1961 with a
14-story tower and
no right angles
Our sculpture,
Lipstick (Ascending)
on Caterpillar Tracks, by
Claes Oldenburg
All-day Apple Bakefest
in the head of college’s
kitchen; Great Morse
Easter Egg Hunt
Morsels
Pierson
Georgian;
built
in 1933
Wrestling in the Jello Pit
of Justice on Pierson Day;
our cheer: P is for the P
in Pierson College, I is for
the I in Pierson College …
Tuesday Night Club, a
college-wide party to help
make it through the early
part of the week
Piersonites
Saybrook
Collegiate Gothic;
completed in 1933
We’re in a chase scene
in the latest Indiana
Jones movie; our own
Chamber Orchestra
(known as SYChO)
Party in the “12 Pack”
and always respond
“Saybrook!” when asked,
“Say what?”
Saybrugians
Silliman
Varied: Collegiate
Gothic; modiﬁed
French Renaissance,
Georgian;
completed in 1940
Biggest college; biggest
courtyard; winner of
cooking and spirit prizes
at Final Cut (Yale’s “Iron
Chef ”)
Sunday music brunch, a
feast of sound and taste;
the Ball on College and
Wall, a spring classic
Sillimanders
Ezra Stiles
Modern master-
piece, designed
by Eero Saarinen;
opened in 1962
Our memorial
moose mascot in the
Dining Hall; annual
Student Film Festival
Medieval (K)night
Festival; Baby Animal
Petting Zoo in the
courtyard
Stilesians
Trumbull
Quintessential Yale/
Collegiate Gothic;
completed in 1933
Potty Court, where our
gargoyle “Thinker” is
enthroned and decorated
every year
Rumble in Trumbull
(bounce-house “ﬁghts”);
Pamplona (running of
the [Trum]Bulls around
campus)
the
’Bulls
Decoding the Colleges.
(Residential College rundown)
So you played sports in high
school but aren’t quite hardcore
enough to suit up for the Bulldogs.
You’re in luck. The residential
college intramural scene o≠ers
a chance to continue your career
at a surprisingly high level of
competition or to start playing a
new sport—not to mention a way
to prove that your college reigns
supreme. The Tyng Cup, annually
awarded for overall excellence to
the college accumulating the
greatest number of points through
intramural play, was ﬁrst presented
in 1933. The Tyng continues
to be the most coveted of all intra-
mural awards, spawning com-
petitive rivalries that make IMs a
way of life for former high school
all-stars and P.E. dropouts alike.
Much of the above ﬁrst appeared in “Intramu-
rals at Yale are spine-Tyngling fun” by Aaron
Lichtig (1999) writing for the Yale Herald.
College Teas are informal Q&A’s
hosted by the head of each
residential college and often
cohosted by campus organizations
such as the Film Society or the
Yale Daily News. The teas give small
groups of students an intimate
opportunity to pick the brains of
world leaders, thinkers, and talents.
Members of the hosting college
get ﬁrst dibs on front-row seats.
More than Oolong.
(College Teas)
Spine-Tyngling Fun.
(Intramural sports)
Recent guests
Trumbull Lois Lowry, author of The Giver;
Joan Acocella, dance and book reviewer
for The New Yorker; Biz Stone, co-founder
of Twitter; Amy Brooks-Kayal, pediatric
neurologist.
Branford Jennifer Staple-Clark, founder
and CEO of Unite For Sight; Robert Pinsky,
former U.S. poet laureate; Chris Bridges,
a.k.a. Ludacris, rapper and actor; Paul
Farmer, co-founder, Partners in Health.
Silliman Denzel Washington, Academy
Award-winning actor, producer, and
director; Brandon Scott Sessoms, gay
blogger, celebrity commentator, and
Internet personality; Nihad Awad, activist
and executive director of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations.
Ezra Stiles Junot Díaz, Pulitzer Prize-
winning author and MacArthur Fellow;
Angélique Kidjo, singer-songwriter and
activist; Cesar Pelli, architect; Ed Norton,
actor and director; Joann Lo, co-director of
the Food Chain Workers Alliance.
Davenport Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate
Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court; Carole
King, singer-songwriter; Mike Gordon,
guitarist, Phish; Margaret Hamburg, fda
commissioner; Garry Trudeau, cartoonist,
Doonesbury; Mukesh Kapila, humanitarian
and author of Against a Tide of Evil.
Timothy Dwight Deqo Mohamed,
physician and CEO of DHAF in Somalia;
Alice Wells, U.S. ambassador to Jordan;
Rahul Pandita, conflict journalist; Susan
Choi, novelist.
Morse Unni Karunakara, international
president of Médecins Sans Frontières; Mark
Penn, author of Microtrends and adviser to
the Clintons, Tony Blair, and Bill Gates;
Bobby Lopez, composer and lyricist of
Avenue Q; Malcolm Gladwell, author of The
Tipping Point and Blink.
Jonathan Edwards Katie Couric, journal-
ist; Jon Pareles, music critic; Michael Pollan,
author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma; Gary
Beach, Tony Award-winning actor.
Fall
Golf
Football
Volleyball
Tennis
Soccer
Cross Country
Table Tennis
Coed
Men, Coed
Coed
Coed
Men, Women
Men, Women
Coed
Winter
Squash
Hoops
Volleyball
Ice Hockey
Inner-Tube
Water Polo
Bowling
Swimming
Men, Women
Men, Women
Men, Women
Coed
Coed
Coed
Coed
Spring
Dodgeball
Badminton
Soccer
Ultimate
Softball
Billiards
Golf
Volleyball
Coed
Coed
Coed
Coed
Coed
Coed
Coed
Coed
24 | lives
25
Bright College Years.
(De���ning Yale through friendship)
“Time and change
shall naught
avail / To break
the friendships
formed at Yale.”
from “Bright College Years,”
Yale’s alma mater
It’s no accident that
playwright John Guare,
who wrote Six Degrees
of Separation (theorizing
that everyone in the world
is connected by no more
than five friends of other
friends), went to Yale. As
one senior put it, that kind
of connectedness— which
morphs into new friend-
ships and affects other
interactions down the
line—“is what Yale feeds
on.” Recognizing one’s
unique impact on people
here and their impact on
you is central to the Yale
experience. These bonds
very often begin in the
residential colleges (you’ll
soon learn that all roads
lead to the residential col-
leges). The twelve friends
on these pages all belong
to Morse College. Here
they talk about chance
meetings, their impact on
one another, and friend-
ship at Yale.
“Going to a restaurant in New
Haven has become a favorite
tradition. On birthdays it’s
Prime 16, a juicy burger place,
or Pepe’s, a New Haven pizza
classic. Whenever it’s Thai food,
I’m given full ordering power
for the family-style meal. Once
I booked out the Morse kitchen
to have a Thai cooking session
with friends. Aaron, Ethan, Mark,
Caroline, and Hannah helped
with the chopping. On the menu
were stir-fry vegetables with
oyster sauce, Thai-style omelet
with fresh shrimp, green curry
with eggplant, and rice I had
brought from Thailand. It’s a
challenge when you’re trying to
time a bunch of di≠erent stir-fry
dishes and coordinate preparation
with ﬁve other people! In the
end the dinner was a delicious
success. Sometimes late at night
I go into the kitchen to cook my
own food as a way to de-stress.
I’ll call Richard to come and help
me ﬁnish what I’ve made as a
fun study break. He’s a fan of my
Thai milk tea.” Hanoi
Lamthran
“Hanoi”
Hantrakul
(above center)
Hometown
Bangkok, Thailand
Major
Applied Physics,
Music
Activities
Yale Jazz Ensemble,
WYBC Radio,
Asian American
Cultural Center,
Salsa dancing, CEID
Workshop designer
“Deena, Caroline, and I have
organized several late-night
Zumba-style dance parties.
Once we choreographed a dance
routine to “Countdown” by
Beyoncé. After about an hour
of teamwork and laughter at
how silly we looked in the dance
mirrors—after all, Caroline is the
only real dancer among us—we
recorded a video of our ﬁnished
dance on Caroline’s computer.
It’s fun to remember the moments
of spontaneous gooﬁness that
deﬁne our friendship.” Hannah
Hannah
Untereiner
(above right)
Hometown
Takoma Park, MD
Major American
Studies
Activities
Whim ’n Rhythm
(a cappella),
Tangled Up in
Blue (American
folksinging
group), Harvest
preorientation
trip leader, French
language tutor,
Morse College
Buttery manager
Hanoi invited Richard
(right) to take an Electrical
Engineering class with
him. Richard says it’s a
course he “probably never
would have considered,
but it became one of my
favorite courses at Yale”
and inspired his participa-
tion in Bulldog Bots,
Yale’s undergraduate
robotics organization.
Richard,
Danny, and
Mark go
sledding on
the big hill by
the Divinity
School during
snowstorms.
Deena and
Danny (below)
are involved
in the Yale
Hunger and
Homelessness
Action Project.
Deena (left)
goes to every one
of Hannah’s
performances
with TUIB, Yale’s
folksinging
group. Over
the years, she’s
learned the
words to all
their songs.
Hanoi, Mark (above left),
Ethan (above right), and
Aaron were assigned
to be suitemates in their
freshman year. They
realized they all played
instruments and started a
band called Suite Spot.
26 | lives
27
Caroline asked Jessica
(above, second from left)
to go running with her
in their ﬁrst week of
freshman year, and they’ve
been running together
regularly ever since—even
though Caroline says
“Jessica is much more
athletic than I am!”
“At 1 a.m. before a snow day, Hanoi
was showing everyone some music
he’d been working on. Mark got his
trombone to play along, and after
ﬁve minutes, he, Ethan, Hanoi, and
I were all playing our respective
instruments. Then Ethan’s girl-
friend joined in on the vocals, and
we jammed for two hours. The
best lesson I’ve learned outside
of the classroom is to cherish
every moment with friends. It’s
tempting to have a concrete plan
for every moment to maximize
productivity and happiness, but
it’s just as important to let a meal
that was going to be an hour be
2+ hours if you’re having a truly
great conversation.” Aaron
“My friendships at Yale are amazing.
Together we have talked excitedly
for hours about classes, despaired
about mountains of homework
in those same classes, laughed and
celebrated when we got through
midterms, watched each other’s
incredible performances, had
our hearts broken, tried new
things and met new people, made
mistakes, and danced until our
legs couldn’t move any more.
We have found so much joy in
learning more about each other.”
Caroline
Caroline
Andersson
(above, second
from right)
Hometown
Hudson, OH
Major Mathematics
& Philosophy
Activities
Morse College Head
Freshman Counselor,
Proof of the Pudding
(jazz a cappella),
Yale Dance Theater,
Steppin’ Out (step
team) president,
Harvest preorienta-
tion trip leader
Met at Yale
Bob Woodward
and John Kerry
George W. Bush
and Garry Trudeau
Hillary Rodham Clinton
and Bill Clinton
Allison Williams and
Kurt Schneider
Sigourney Weaver
and Meryl Streep
Angela Bassett
and Tony Shalhoub
Frances McDormand
and David Henry
Hwang
Jodie Foster and
Jennifer Beals
David Duchovny and
Paul Giamatti
Edward Norton and
Jennifer Connelly
Paul Sciarra
and Ben Silbermann
Aaron
Effron
(above)
Hometown
Brookline, MA
Major
Physics
Activities
Society of Orpheus
and Bacchus
(a cappella),
intramural soccer
co-captain
“The most important factor in my
closest friendships is how much we
prioritize each other, even in the
face of homework or extra curriculars
or other life.”
Caroline
Kevin (above)
and Danny
compete
together in
Final Cut, a
university-
wide
“Iron Chef ”-
style culinary
competition.
Aaron and
Carlee (below)
met through a
mutual friend
the summer
before their
freshman
year, so Carlee
remembers
Aaron as
her ﬁrst Yale
friend. They
get dinner
together with
a group of
friends every
Sunday.
Carlee and
Deena have
been suite-
mates since
sophomore
year.
Danny, Aaron, and
Ethan know Deena
through Yale Hillel, where
she was co-president in her
junior year. They regularly
attend Friday night
Shabbat dinners together.
Kevin and Jessica met in a
music history class and also
took Roman Architecture
and Opera Libretto:
“subjects that were o≠
our radar but turned out
to be fascinating.”
28 | lives
29
Breaking News.
(A few of the year’s top undergraduate stories)
Slam Kudos
Senior Emi Mahmoud won the
Individual World Poetry Slam
Championship, an annual four-
day competition that attracts
some of the world’s best poets.
Mahmoud ﬁrst learned about
spoken-word performance
at Yale’s Bulldog Days, which
introduces admitted students
and their families to Yale College.
In addition to being crowned
the iWPS champion, Mahmoud
will publish a book of her own
poems and travel on behalf of
Poetry Slam Inc. to teach poetry.
Yale in New Haven
Senior Jacob Wasserman was
honored with an Ivy Award in
April for his work connecting
Yale students to the New Haven
community. Wasserman runs
goNewHavengo, promoting
nonautomotive transportation;
volunteers at New Haven Reads,
a book bank and tutoring
program for elementary school
students; is co-chair of the Ward
1 Democratic Town Committee;
and serves as an adviser to City
Atlas: New Haven, a new publi-
cation highlighting sustainability
e≠orts and initiatives. He has
also been a leader of Yale’s focus
preorientation program, which
helps sophomores get involved
with the city and local nonproﬁts.
Record
Attendance
More than 750 undergraduates
from more than ﬁfty universities
attended the student-run 21st
annual Black Solidarity Confer-
ence at Yale; this year’s theme
was “The Miseducation: Chang-
ing History as We Know It.”
Panels, workshops, and discus-
sions at the sold-out conference
reflected on the history of the
African diaspora and considered
ways of creating a better future.
In addition, a career fair and
talks featured representatives
from such companies as Gold-
man Sachs, Google, and Jopwell.
Across the Pond
Seven seniors have been named
Rhodes, Marshall, or Gates
Cambridge Scholars, among the
most coveted academic awards
for postgraduate study. On
Rhodes scholarships at Oxford,
Global A≠airs major Mason Ji
will seek an M.Phil. in interna-
tional relations; Ethics, Politics,
and Economics major Jared
Milfred will pursue an M.Phil.
in political theory; Applied
Mathematics and Economics
double-major Tim Rudner will
study for an M.Sc. in applied
statistics and an M.Sc. in math-
ematical modeling and scientiﬁc
computing; and History major
Isaac Stanley-Becker will seek an
M.Phil. in economic and social
history. On a Marshall scholar-
ship, History major Skyler Ross
will pursue an M.F.A. in creative
producing at the University of
London’s Royal Central School
of Speech and Drama. And as
Gates Scholars at Cambridge,
Ethics, Politics, and Economics
major Joshua Feinzig will pur-
sue an M.Phil. in criminology,
and Literature major William
Theiss will study for an M.Phil.
in early modern history. Earlier
in the year, Feinzig won the
international Undergraduate
Award in gender studies and
anthropology for his paper
“Black Performativity, Reflexiv-
ity, and Reclaiming the Public
Sphere,” written for a History
seminar at Yale.
Physics Matters
Junior Grace Pan was selected as
a Goldwater Scholar for 2016 by
the Barry Goldwater Scholarship
Program, which was created to
encourage outstanding students
to pursue research careers in the
stem disciplines. Pan, who plans
to pursue a doctorate in physics,
studies the synthesis and char-
acterization of materials with
interesting topological proper-
ties at Yale’s Energy Sciences
Institute on the West Campus.
Tell Me a Story
A team of three Yale College
sophomores—Henok Addis,
Philip Esterman, and Jillian
Kravatz—won the second
annual Thorne Prize for Social
Innovation in Health or Educa-
tion. Their product, StoryTime,
promotes early literacy by using
cellular technology to address
the “word gap” faced by many
children in lower-income fami-
lies, who by age four are likely
to have heard 30 million fewer
words than peers from higher-
income families. StoryTime
texts original short stories to
parents who can then share
them with their children. The
$25,000 prize will allow the trio
to broaden StoryTime’s reach
in New Haven to 800 families
and work with writers to
develop more original material.
Boola Boola
The Yale Men’s Basketball team
qualiﬁed for the NCAA tourna-
ment for the ﬁrst time since 1962,
advancing to the second round
with a win over 5th-seeded
Baylor; senior Justin Sears was
named Ivy League Player of the
year. Freshman Isabella Hindley
was the high-point swimmer
of the meet at this year’s Ivy
conference championship, with
victories in the 50-, 100-, and
200-yard freestyle events and
four relays. After defeating
Harvard to win the Ivy League
championship, the Yale Men’s
Squash team went on to win the
CSA National Tournament, the
program’s sixteenth national
title and its ﬁrst in twenty-six
years; junior Kah Wah Cheong
clinched the victory in the ﬁnal
match of the competition. Yale’s
Gymnastics team shone on the
uneven bars at the ECAC champi-
onships, with the top team score
in the event; and junior Tatiana
Winkelman was named ECAC
Scholar Athlete of the Year.
Undergraduate
Entrepreneurs
Yale undergraduates head many
of the business ventures that
have earned summer fellowships
from the Yale Entrepreneurial
Institute in 2016. The program,
which is geared toward scalable
ideas with high-growth poten-
tial, provides funding, mentors,
access to corporate partners,
one-on-one pitch guidance, and
the support of a network of
like-minded peers and experts.
This year’s undergraduate
projects include a bail-funding
start-up aimed at low-risk
defendants; an easy-to-install
backyard ice rink; a portable
infant respirator; and an
interactive experience for
discovering new music.
Clean Sweep
In this year’s Norman Mailer
Writing Awards, a national
competition administered by
the National Council of Teach-
ers of English, ten Yale College
students and recent graduates
swept the Four-Year College
Creative Nonﬁction category.
Since the competition was
established in 2009, half of all
winners and more than 40%
of all honorees have been Yale
undergraduates. Winner Eric
Boodman graduated in 2015.
Out of This World
At the White House Astronomy
Night in October, President
Obama recognized the Yale
Undergraduate Aerospace
Association for its work on
developing an automated
optical telescope. Motorized
and computer-controlled
with soft

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Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701 in Saybrook Colony as the Collegiate School, the University is the third-oldest institution of higher education in theUnited States. In 1718, the school was renamed Yale College in recognition of a gift from Elihu Yale, a governor of the British East India Company and in 1731 received a further gift of land and slaves from Bishop Berkeley.[6] Established to train Congregationalist ministers in theology and sacred languages, by 1777 the school's curriculum began to incorporate humanities and sciences and in the 19th century gradually incorporated graduate and professional instruction, awarding the first Ph.D. in the United States in 1861 and organizing as a university in 1887.[7]

Yale is organized into twelve constituent schools: the original undergraduate college, the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and ten professional schools. While the university is governed by the Yale Corporation, each school's faculty oversees its curriculum and degree programs. In addition to a central campus in downtown New Haven, the University owns athletic facilities in western New Haven, including the Yale Bowl, a campus in West Haven, Connecticut, and forest and nature preserves throughout New England. The university's assets include an endowment valued at $25.6 billion as of September 2015, the second largest of any educational institution in the world.[8]

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